In my job as a church secretary, one of my tasks is to find a picture for the front of the Sunday bulletin that matches or complements the sermon title or topic. A couple of weeks ago the pastor suggested a flower growing out of a crack in the sidewalk to illustrate "bloom where you are planted." Easy enough, right? Well, after I had exhausted all the possibilities I could come up with and asked for help on the church secretary forum I belong to, I thought of the Burren. Found a wonderful picture of tiny little purple flowers growing out of a huge crack in the moonscape. They weren't quite as impressive in black and white, but they got me some compliments on my creativity.
The Burren does capture a some themes quite perfectly, doesn't it? I'm glad people recognized your efforts.
Another great resource for photos is www.flickr.com...anyone who submits and includes a Creative Commons license on their images invites you to use their picture as long as you give them credit. You can click "advanced search" and set the site to to only search the Creative Commons license-friendly pics.
Thanks for the tip about fllickr. When I have time I will have to look through some photos there. There are some fabulous ones of Ireland but I could spend weeks just browsing. There is one guy there whose photos are beautiful but are "photo shopped" to death. I prefer mine a bit more natural.
I have spent countless hours in the Burren, just me and my camera. It is one of the most contemplative areas in Ireland, as far as I am concerned. One of the Photos in my Gallery, which was taken in the Burren, has a great story to it. I was trying to decide which angle best suited what I was trying to capture. An elder local man was watching me intently. when I was satisfied with my shot, I smiled at him and said Hello. He said to me, "Do you know how many folks have stood at that rock and looked across the boundless sea? All of them praying for a miracle and pinning that prayer on life in America." He said that he had lived in Boston until he turned 18 and then made his way back to the Burren area after he did his stint in the War, fulfilling a promise to his Gran. He said he stayed because he finally felt at home. We had quite a delightful chat and another in MCGann's that evening, he and his wife.
Dude's inspiration has opened the memory vault, is it Spring yet?
Corey, One has to be careful with Creative Commons license, as it doesn't always allow someone to use the photos in their original state for commercial use. This causes quite the Ballyhoo, especially at POD sites like the one I use for my Gallery, because people are constantly swiping photos from Flickr & Photobucket, and putting them on product for sale. I actually had one of my own photos challenged by my POD because someone had pulled it of my Cowboy Craic website and used it as theirs. Fortunately, I had all the necessary information to make the challenge go away.